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Even though I no longer flush my fountain pens and ink up replacements at the start of every month it still seems like a good time to review what I have inked. Of the 10 pens that were inked when February began five remain in the rotation, although two of these have new ink. Two pens were flushed before their time because I didn’t enjoy their broad nib. Five of the 10 were written dry, although as I said, two were re-inked.

The Esterbrook Dip-less has become a fixture on my desk, so when the inkwell went dry it was cleaned out and refilled. I had planned to stick with Sheaffer Red, but decided to go with Montblanc Corn Poppy Red which is a similar color. I wanted a bright red and decided to change it up. For better or worse, this was a quick way to empty a $19 bottle of ink.

I needed a red ink in a pen I could carry. Sheaffer Red is an obvious choice but in my quest to use all my inks I picked Waterman Red since it hasn’t be used in a long time. But this still left me needing to pick a pen for the ink.

As is far to typical for me, I was frozen by the number of choices. My Sheaffer Crest has become my standard for red ink since it matches the Nova Red finish. But again, I wanted variety so I put it aside. To make a decision, or to avoid making one, I decided to limit my choices to pens that could have been manufactured the same year as the movie I was watching was released. The movie was Forbidden Planet so that makes the year 1956. I didn’t go so far as to figure out if my particular finish could have been made in that year. So that gave me two choices: a Sheaffer Snorkel or a Sheaffer Tip Dip. I went with the Snorkel since it had a extra fine nib and I’d be using this pen for notations and marking up documents.

In my quest to use more of my inks the Omas Turquoise was picked by random.org. I’m not a fan of blue or turquoise inks so I considered putting this in a lesser pen. But then I wouldn’t use it and I’d just flush it out before it solidified in the pen. That wouldn;t be fair to the ink so I filled my Lamy 2000 with it. Let’s see if this terrific pen can change my mind about the color. It hasn’t so far, but I am using it.

The Sheaffer VFM was purchased just over a year ago but never inked up. It’s been inked up for review. While the Nexus Minimal has just arrived and inked as soon as possible.

I started March with 11 inked fountain pens, two more than February. I’m trying to stay at a dozen inked pens or less and to write them dry before replacing it. The Duofold should be nearly empty but there’s probably still considerable ink left in the other pens. In any event, here are my inked pens. As usual the writing samples are in the same order as they appear in the photos. Except for the Esterbrook Dip-Less. You can follow the link for that one in order to see it. The writing samples are on Tomoe River Cream paper.

I started January with 11 fountain pens. With 10, I’ll be starting February with one less, but I emptied five pens during the month. Ans actually, by the time this post appears I’ll probably have one less pen inked. As I was writing the draft of this post the Pilot Vanishing Point went dry. The practicality of the Vanishing Point, along with the extra fine nib, may have me inking it right up again.

I inked up both my Sheaffer Crest pens. I wanted to add both a red and green ink to the mix and these seemed the perfect pens. The Nova Red Crest got a ink that’s relatively new, and certainly new to me.

On to the pens. As usual, the writing samples are in the same order as the pens in the tray except for the Esterbrook Dip-Less which isn’t shown. Follow the link for pictures of it. The writing samples are on Tomoe River Cream paper.

It’s a new month, not to mention a new year, and I have 11 pens inked to start them off. This compares to December when I started the month with 13 fountain pens.

The Lamy 2000, Pilot Custom 823, Gold KarasKustoms Ink and Sheaffer Imperial were all written dry, cleaned, and put back in the case. The Lamy and Pilot were tough to give up since they’re a couple of my favorite writers. The Sheaffer was fun to play with, but it’s nib is so far outside my comfort zone it’s not missed. The Ink was replaced with a different Ink (Blue with a broad nib).

The only really newly inked fountain pen is the Omas 360 Vintage (in name only) LE which I filled with Montblanc Bordeaux. I wanted to keep Bordeaux in the rotation. I picked the Omas because the nib, despite being a fine, is different than the rest of the pens already inked.

Here are the inked pens. As usual the Esterbrook Dip-less isn’t pictured but otherwise the pens are in the same order in the photo and writing samples.

It’s been two months since I showed what I have inked. Between re-inking and less writing than usual things didn’t change much until November was well under way. Five of the nine pens inked when October started are still in the rotation. Although one of those has a different ink now, and another was re-filled with the same ink. With the first weekend in December inked up some new pens to replenish the rotation, bringing me up to 13 pens. I’m keeping to my goal of not flushing good ink down the sink. Fountain pens stay inked and in the rotation until I write them dry. Of course, there’s no rule I can’t add more anytime I want.

I have been plagued by ink clinging to converters. Converter pens stored nib up sometimes need a little help or a lot of time to get going if they’ve been unused for a couple days. Now that the cold weather has set it the heat has been on and windows have been closed so it’s probably the dry air.

I was shocked to find my Pilot Custom 823 has been inked since September. It does hold a lot of ink and the fine nib is stingy. But Montblanc Bordeaux is a favorite and I need to use it more. I keep thinking I have to use this ink for special things since it’s a dwindling supply. I have three unopened bottles so I really need to be less concerned, at least for two more bottles. I keep telling myself there’s no difference between not using it for conservation and not using it because I ran out is the same thing but I still hesitate.

I cleaned my Franklin-Christoph Model 66 and put it back in its case when I wrote it dry. It’s tough to be without the pen but I wanted to give my Edison Huron Grande some use.

There are three pens I wouldn’t consider part of my rotation. Or at least not pens I picked solely because I enjoy using them. The Caran d’Ache Geneve is inked because I’m working through my long neglected fountain pens and inking them up to use and review. The Sailor 1911M is inked because of it’s having severe flow problems. I took it apart and cleaned it thoroughly and now need to see if the problem is gone. The Sheaffer Imperial is still inked because it’s a nib so far out of my comfort zone (and ability) that it’s fun to play with but gets little use.

I do need to get some variety in my ink colors. Maybe next month. Unfortunately for most of my writing I like black, grey and brown. To be honest, I don’t consider it a problem until I look at my options in one long list. It seems that these days I’m more interested in the pen than the ink.

The Pens

As usual, the writing sample is in the same order as in the photograph except the unphotographed Esterbrook Dip-less. If I carried it to my living room window for lighting the only question is which part of the carpet would I drop the inkwell on. So it stays desk bound. Follow the link for pictures.

It’s the beginning of the month so I looked through my accumulation and inked up a couple more fountain pens.

The first two pens in the list have never been inked before and both have nibs outside my comfort zone. The Rotring has a medium nib which isn’t all that uncomfortable for me. Against common sense I gave this first time pen a first time ink. First impressions are that common sense isn’t always for the best. The Sheaffer Imperial has a nib that’s totally foreign to me, as you can tell from the writing sample. It’s so wide I’m considering using it to flip burgers.

The two Sheaffer Balances were inked just so I could enjoy looking at them. But the Montblanc Daniel Defoe really shines with the stub nib.

When I look at the pens I have inked up two things occur to me:

Almost half the nibs are outside my comfort zone of fine and extra fine nibs.

I need to do a lot of writing because I want to use them all.

In addition to my four always inked pens the following are inked up to start October:

It’s been over six months since my last “Always Inked” post and the pens have changed. Plus, it’s time for another “Currently Inked” post and I’m tire of squeezing these same four fountain pens into the picture. I always have these four pens inked. At least that’s been true the since the beginning of this month and will be into the foreseeable future. The one thing they all have in common is they can stay inked for months and not have any problems.

Esterbrook Dip-less in an empty #407 inkwell

The Esterbrook Dip-less is my newest always inked pen. Since it’s a dip pen it’s desk bound. I primarily use it for short notes and it still has the Esterbrook #7550 extra fine nib. There’s Sheaffer Red in the inkwell which is a nice bright red ink that suitable for the way I use the pen. It’s the only pen of the four that I clean off every couple of weeks. The red ink dries around the collar so I clean it off before it has a chance to permanently stain the pen. Plus, it starts to look cruddy on an otherwise pristine pen. The dip pen gets used nearly every day, although probably for less than 20 words each day.

Franklin-Christoph Model 66 with R&K Blau-Schwarz

If there’s a perfect fountain pen and ink combination this has to be it. They’ve been together for well over a year. The Model 66 went over a year just being refilled, no cleaning and it was problem free. It’s mostly desk bound since it’s so big, and clip-less. Because the Esterbrook Dip-less sits on the same desk and I now use the Model 66 less often, it does leave the desk at times so that it gets used.

I couldn’t decide which Kaweco AL Sport to carry, so I carry two of them. Both have finishes designed to be abused so I carry them in the same pocket as my keys. In a bit of irony, even though I’m always carrying these pens they are used the least of all my inked pens. I usually have another pen in my shirt pocket which gets used first. So these get used when I don’t have another fountain pen, or when I need additional ink colors. Maybe it’s because they bounce around in my pocket all the time, but I never have any hard starts. I also don’t have a lot of ink in the cap either.